Living a Holy Life Series, Part 2
I believe that it is every Christian’s desire to live a holy and blameless life before God. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we became a new creation; we became someone who immediately loves God. And because of this love for Him, we want to please Him in how we live; in other words, we want to be in pursuit of holiness as we seek what the holiness of God is about. Do you agree with that?
As we continue in our series on Living a Holy Life, we will look at 7 steps that will help us to learn how to be holy and blameless in His sight. Yes, these are doable steps. If I can do it, you can too!
In Part 1, Pursue God to Be Holy as He is Holy, we learned that God wants us to be in His pursuit. He wants us to have a heart for Him, the way David longed for more of God. At the end of that study, we made our way to the throne room in an amazing worship time with God.
Desiring more of God isn’t just going to church on Sundays, or spending time listening to worship music, or singing to our heart’s content. It is reading His word, learning from Him, and about Him.
Being holy and blameless is BEING. Being holy as He is holy is BEING. It is putting into practice what we learn. It is emulating Him in our actions, words, and character.
Table of Contents
Can I Stand Holy Before God?
In this study, we will learn about the holiness of God. We cannot move forward in our walk with God without this one main piece of the puzzle.
When I met my second husband, I had one failed marriage behind me. It had been a marriage that, to me, turned from my ‘dream’ marriage to something else almost right away.
I couldn’t identify what happened as it was such a subtle shift. I lived with abuse for close to 30 years. It had become my normal. I did my best to be a good wife, but over the years, things became worse. My marriage failed, which, in my mind, meant I failed.
How could God love me when my vows were broken? How could such a holy God love an unholy, sinful person like me?
It is because of His unmerited grace that I am allowed to stand before Him. I received forgiveness and can now move forward in my walk with God.
Because I am a sinner, I am aware of the holiness of God. But what does that really mean? How do I respond to His Holiness? How can I be blameless in His sight?
I somehow think that I am not alone in this. I’m sure many women feel like they have failed God, who feel like they haven’t lived up to His expectations. This may be true, but it is not the end for us. We still can be in pursuit of holiness simply because we love Him. God demands that we be perfect, holy, and blameless before Him. Yes, we can do it! Let’s see how.
Be Holy and Blameless
So, here is the puzzle piece we need. It’s quite simple to read and hear, but do we actually ‘get it’? This is important to understand in our pursuit of holiness.
Peter quoted from Leviticus 11:44 “…ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves…”
So, did you notice anything about this verse?
Okay, I’ll tell you what it isn’t.
It is not a yes/no statement.
Christians, no matter who we are, where we live, or our status in life, have been called to live holy and blameless before God, 1 Colossians 1:22. God wants us to desire His presence more than anything else so that we can be like Him in character and our actions.
So, what is the holiness of God?
As far as I am aware, Genesis 17:1 is the first reference to His holiness. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
God wants us to desire Him more than anything else!
Why would God tell Abram to be perfect before Him? It could only be because God is perfect. Let’s see what this word means via Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.
Perfect — 8549 (Strong’s Number) – tamiym (taw-meem) — without blemish, complete, full, without spot, undefiled, upright.
So, holiness is being without blemish or spot, being undefiled, but being full and complete. It is perfect.
This is the main puzzle piece. This is what we need to acknowledge before we go any further:
God is a HOLY God. No sin is allowed in His presence.
The Holiness of God — His Standard
From Genesis to Revelation, we see the holiness of God. His standard of holiness does not allow for anything less to be in His presence. He gave commands, laws, and regulations to the Israelites to live by.
Because He is holy, we must be holy and blameless. We do not always know what is right to do, but thanks be to God, He does!
The pursuit of holiness should drive you to read the Old Testament to discover His character. It is here that you will notice He is consistent in His actions as they are based on His holy character.
For example, the hard parts of Scripture, like Uzzah, the Kohathite priest who was escorting the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, may seem harsh when you read that God killed him instantly for touching the Ark.
God is Serious about His Commands
It shocks our senses, but let’s back up a bit to look at the facts:
- Uzzah and his brother Ahio were sons of Abinadab and were aware of who was to take care of the consecrated articles in the tabernacle, which included the Ark of the Covenant.
- Uzzah was not a Kohathite.
- as did all the Israelites, Uzzah knew the do’s and don’ts.
- there were special poles to go in the rings at the base corners of the Ark for transportation, as no one was allowed to touch it.
- there was no allowance made for touching the Ark; in other words, no conditions that made it acceptable to touch it.
- David had the Ark placed on an ox cart for transportation. Was it faster to bring it to Jerusalem?
- transporting the Ark by foot was approved by God as He designated special poles for that purpose. No other transportation mode was approved.
- when the oxen stumbled, the Ark slid on the cart. Uzzah reacted by reaching out to stop it from sliding.
- God was angry. Not because the Ark was going to fall off, but because Uzzah knew he shouldn’t have been transporting the Ark in the first place.
- Uzzah broke the rule of “do not touch,” and God had no choice but to kill him for touching it. It may seem harsh, but sin cannot come into contact with holiness, and Uzzah was a sinner.
You can read more about those details in these passages: 1 Chronicles 13:3-4, 7-11; Numbers 4:4, 15, 17-20.
My blogger friend, Melissa, from Cups to Crowns, has written a great post called What Does it Actually Mean to Obey God?. You might want to click over to read it, too!
Oh, I know, this is a hard thing to understand when we have been taught that God is a God of love. But when you read these verses in their context, you will see that the holiness of God makes no allowances for sin. His character is always consistent because if it weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to trust Him.
God is never unfair ~ He is always just.
So, what does this teach us? We learn that we can trust God to be true, fair, and just when He needs to discipline us.
The Pursuit of Holiness Leads to a Holy and Blameless Life
Since God is holy, He commands us to be holy and blameless, Colossians 1:22, 1 Peter 1:15-16. How do we do this?
- We acknowledge that God is holy. This is more than just saying words; this is seeing ourselves in the mirror of holiness and that we need to repent for our sins.
- We acknowledge that we are sinners. All have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, Romans 3:23.
- Our sins need our attention. We must repent for our sins. With repentance is forgiveness, and our filthy rags are changed into robes of righteousness before the Holy God. 1 John 1:9, Acts 2:38.
- As saints, we are to be separate from the world. This means we walk the straight and narrow path, not the wide road filled with snares and traps that defeat us. We don’t participate in the world’s activities; we’re careful of what we hear, watch, and do.
- We meet with God daily to be in His presence and to hear from Him as He directs our steps, Psalm 37:23.
- The more often we meet with God and study His Word, our understanding of the Word and our faith in the Word will grow, and we will learn to hate what God hates — sin. Psalm 119:11, 105.
- As John, Paul, and Peter taught in their epistles, we need to walk in the light as He is in the light. We need to walk in truth and unity. Simply put, do your best to be Christ-like in your words, deeds, and responses.
In our pursuit of holiness, in our pursuit to be holy and blameless, we need to know who we are pursuing and why. We have determined the answers to these questions. If your heart is searching for a deeper relationship with God, could it be that this is the puzzle piece you are missing?
Maybe you need to acknowledge the holiness of God. Or, maybe you need to search your heart to see God as He really is. Then you will be ready to obey the command to be holy as He is holy. Oh, if Moses couldn’t see God’s face, then that tells us something about God. And it tells us something about ourselves, too.
Summary of Our Pursuit of Holiness
Head knowledge is one thing, heart knowledge is something else. When our heart or spirit ‘gets it’, our everyday walk becomes closer to what God wants for us.
It isn’t going to happen overnight. We have habits that will need to be broken. As always, the choice is ours, but if we really desire to be holy and blameless before God, then we will pursue God every day. And one day, we will look back and see how far we’ve come. Baby steps, one day at a time.
If you missed the first part of this study in Living a Holy Life, you can read it here: Pursue God to be Holy as He is Holy.
Our next study will have us looking at acknowledging that holiness is not a choice. Stay tuned!
How has this study helped you in your walk with God? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
In Him We Live,
~ Cindy ~
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